This invention relates to electro-optic sensing of voltage, and more particularly, electro-optic sensing of voltage as a function of position of a large plurality of voltage sources on a surface.
There is a growing need to be able to test and extract voltage information from a voltage-producing surface such as a printed circuit board, an integrated circuit wafer (with or without a package) or a liquid crystal display panel in order to diagnose the integrity of the structure. The present electronic test systems have a technology capable of testing circuit boards or panels (a panel under test or PUT) having a node density not exceeding approximately 100 nodes per square inch. This limitation has been identified as, at least partially, a bandwidth limitation as present electronic test systems of this type can achieve bandwidths of not more of about 200 MHz and/or cannot probe panels with node densities exceeding approximately 100 contact points per square inch.
Certain applications, such as the testing of liquid crystal display panels are best practiced with non-contact sensing techniques such as electro-optic techniques. However, these panels have conductive pixels such as transparent indium tin oxide (ITO), with a thin-film transistor deposited directly on the glass surface and are therefore, considered very fragile. Such panels also may have an additional insulating layer covering the deposited structure, rendering it impossible to place voltage probes at selected positions on the panel. It is therefore impractical to impose contact testing on such panels. Nevertheless, current and projected production methods and strategies demand that each pixel of such a panel be tested for its ability to change voltage state as well an ability to measure voltage under various conditions relative to their voltages. The current state of the art does not provide a test technique for such structures.
It is known to use electro-optic devices for serially testing selected nodes of a voltage producing device. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,875,006 and 4,862,075. The subject matter of those patents is incorporated herein and made a part hereof. Therein, the use of a single light beam is described to serially access individual sensor nodes using a unique sensor/laser arrangement giving control over a beam of light whereby a Pockels Cell Modulator employs the electro-optic Pockels effect to sense local electric fields produced by voltage on a surface. Such known devices require control of a beam by scanning technology such as an acoustic-optic deflector or an x-y stage. Known systems are thus limited to single beam, serial data extraction.